Ardfheis

Distinguish from Ardèche (a département in France).

Ard fheis or ardfheis (/ɑːrd ˈɛʃ/ ard ESH, Irish: [ˌaːɾˠd̪ˠ ˈɛʃ]; "high assembly"; plural ardfheiseanna) is the name used by many Irish political parties for their annual party conference. The term was first used by Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish language cultural organisation, for its annual convention.

Usage

Among the parties who use the term Ardfheis are:

• Fine Gael^[1]
• Fianna Fáil^[2]
• Sinn Féin^[3]
• Éirígí^[4]
• Green Party^[5][6]
• Republican Sinn Féin^[7][8]
• National Party^[9][10]
• Workers' Party^[11][12]
• Aontú^[13][14]

In Northern Ireland, the term is not used by the Social Democratic and Labour Party, or by those parties which are not Irish nationalist in outlook, such as the Alliance Party, Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party.

In the Republic of Ireland, the Labour Party, Communist Party, Solidarity–People Before Profit and the Social Democrats do not use the term ardfheis.

Ard chomhairle

Many political parties who use the term ardfheis, also use the term ard chomhairle which means national executive committee. It literally translates as high council.

In Scotland

• Scottish Republican Socialist Movement
• Siol nan Gaidheal

References

1. Duffy, Rónán (23 January 2016). "8 things we learned at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis". TheJournal.ie. from the original on 2 May 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
2. Bartley, Colin; Sheahan, Fionnan (3 April 2010). "FF's mini ard fheis could begin trend". Irish Independent. from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
3. "Sinn Féin Ard Fheis under way in Dublin". RTÉ News. 5 March 2010. from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
4. "Ard Fheis Éirígí 2019". Éirígí. 6 January 2019. from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
5. "Green Party Convention 2017 Brochure". issuu. from the original on 2021-09-26. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
6. Boyle, Dan (2006). A Journey to Change 25 Years of the Green Party in Irish Politics. Nonsuch Publishing. p. 122. ISBN 978-184588-559-5.
7. "The Ruairí Ó Brádaigh I Know". January 26, 2015. from the original on February 2, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
8. "Address to Republican Sinn Féin Ard-Fheis". republican-news.org. from the original on 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
9. The National Party (2018-11-15), National Party Ard Fheis 2018, from the original on 2020-06-16, retrieved 2019-04-29
10. (PDF). SIPO.ie. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 3, 2019.
11. "The Workers Party Ard Fheis". RTÉ Archives. from the original on 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
12. "Workers' Party President Michael Donnelly addresses 2017 Ard Fheis". from the original on 2021-02-02. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
13. "Tóibín to address first Aontú Ard Fheis today". LMFM. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
14. Newsroom. "'It works' - Peter McVerry says housing programme is getting people off the streets". Newstalk. Retrieved 2021-12-02.